After Monday’s relatively big news that Brett Lawrie would begin the season on the disabled list, and J.P. Arencibia will catch the home opener with R.A. Dickey on the hill, Tuesday’s media scrum did not provide too many enticing morsels of information.

Blue Jays’ manager, John Gibbons, shared the team’s excitement to have Dustin McGowan nearing the end of his rehabilitation. The oft-injured pitcher will take the mound today in a relief appearance, but won’t be expected to face many batters. McGowan has had an encouraging spring, but Gibbons made it clear he certainly won’t be going North with the team.

No, he won’t be ready to start the season, but it won’t be too long afterwards…The way his history’s been, we don’t want to rush him.

Ricky Romero, who will start Tuesday’s afternoon tilt against the Pittsburgh Pirates, is still a matter of concern for Gibbons. The coaching staff believes the simple remedy for Romero is to throw strikes. While Romero has always had some trouble with walking batters, Gibbons believes the 28-year-old has it in him to return to solid play. If Romero can keep the ball down in the zone, throw strikes, and rely on his defence, he’ll no longer be seen as the weak link in what is arguably the strongest rotation in the American League. “For his own sake, he needs to have a good one [outing]. He’s under the microscope because of what happened last year…it hasn’t been easy for him. But he’s pretty good too, and we don’t want to lose sight of that.”

Tuesday was an encouraging day for Casey Janssen, who looked very strong in his relief appearance against the Philadelphia Phillies. While his velocity didn’t quite touch the 90s, his offspeed pitches were nasty, fooling several Philly batters. Gibbons plans to run Janssen about once every two days to tighten him up before opening day.

As for Janssen’s compatriots in the bullpen, the team hasn’t finalized who else will make the 25-man roster. Darren Oliver, Sergio Santos, and Steve Delabar are shoe-ins, and the remaining spots are mostly gelled, but there are still a few guys on the bubble. With the news that Lawrie will start the season on the DL, the team can decide to replace his bat, or go with an 8-man bullpen. Gibbons still isn’t sure what the team will do on that front.

Last year’s iteration of the Toronto Blue Jays ran a lot of defensive shifts, primarily architected by former 3B coach and infield instructor Brian Butterfield. Gibbons plans on doing the same for the more obvious batters, but may not rely on the shift as much as the 2012 team. He’ll look to some of his pitchers to see what their preference may be, especially command pitchers like Mark Buehrle. He also pointed out that with Dickey on the mound, and the unpredictable nature of the knuckleball, the alternate defensive positioning will be used in a “play-it-by-ear” scenario.

J.P. Arencibia (9), of the Toronto Blue Jays, rounds the bases after his second HR of the March 25, 2013 spring training game against the Philadelphia Phillies. Photograph by: Chris Melito/Canda.com

That’s interesting news for a team that spent most of last year being outpaced only by the Tampa Bay Rays in the number of shifts used. Defence was one of Toronto’s bright spots last year, especially when Lawrie was shifted into short RF. Some of this was seen yesterday, as Emilio Bonifacio was moved from 2B to short RF, with Maicer Izturis shifted over to the 2B area on at least one Ryan Howard at-bat. It resulted in Howard popping out to Bonifacio on what would have otherwise been a single.

Jonathan Sanchez, who threw a no hitter for the San Francisco Giants in 2009, will get the call for the Pittsburgh Pirates Tuesday afternoon. He has struggled mightily in the last few years, but is having a half-way decent spring, looking to cement a spot in the Pirates’ starting rotation.

The Pirates will have four regulars in the lineup today, namely Starling Marte, Gaby Sanchez, Pedro Alvarez, and Garrett Jones. Keep an eye on Marte, who is one of Pittsburgh’s highest-touted young players. He played in 47 games for the Pirates last season, his first in the big leagues, and impressed many. He sports a career .303/.361/.462/.823 minor league slash line in nearly 2000 plate appearances over six seasons.

Game time is 1:05PM from Florida Auto Exchange Stadium in Dunedin. The broadcast will be available on MLB.com and bluejays.com.

Toronto-based baseball blogger; lover of wheat beer and great vodka; fervent Secular Humanist; that guy you meet at a party who seems boorish and loud, then maybe he redeems himself, but eventually you... read more see your first impression was accurate. Follow me on Twitter: @LoRichTimes.View author's profile